HOW TO USE HTML5 ON YOUR WEBSITE TODAY

There's a lot that you can do with HTML5 today. But you need to know your audience. If the majority of your site's visitors still use Internet Explorer 6, then you have no reason to rush.

On the other hand, if your site is primarily for mobile browsers on iPhones and iPads, what are you waiting for? But if your site falls somewhere in the middle there's clearly a core of HTML5 features that all the major non-IE browsers do support, which could allow "draft HTML5" websites to be deployed to a large segment of the Web-using population.

In this article by Dori Smith of InfoWorld, you'll receive help with DOCTYPE, working video tags, HTML5 Shiv and more.

UK'S SOCIAL MEDIA USE POLICY

Along with last month's announcement of the UK Social Media Approval Policy (see right-side menu) comes the Social Media Use Policy.

As it states right off the bat: The purpose of this policy is to provide faculty, staff, and student employees with guidelines for participating in approved social media on behalf of the University. It also applies to the personal use of social media sites, when the employee’s University affiliation is identified, known, or presumed. It does not apply to content that is non-University related.

It contains certain "do's and don't's" pertaining to who can and can't post on behalf of the University, where to get approval, what content postings can contain, disclaimers and more. Of particular interest is the final "Sanctions" section, which lays out what occurs when "Violations" are found.

In general, the policy mirrors a lot of what we're used to under the IT Computing Policies with added responsibilities.

ACCESSIBILITY OF WEB INFORMATION AND SERVICES PROVIDED BY ENTITIES COVERED BY THE ADA

On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the American Disabilities Act, a comprehensive civil rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability. Since then, because of the proliferation of the World Wide Web and it's services, the law has been appended to include section regarding Web access.

The Department of Justice is considering, among several items revising the regulations to establish requirements for making the services, programs, or activities offered by State and local governments to the public via the Web accessible.

We can play a part in the process as the Department solicits public comment on various issues relating to the potential application of the requirements and to obtain background information for the regulatory assessment.

We are being encouraged to read the proposal and make written comments. Details are laid out in the link below.